This is a solid SW with George Ardisson in the lead. And heās quite good (generally I donāt like him).
Not an unusual story which the film tells, but good enough directed to be enjoyable.
The beginning has one of these typical SW robberies of 1 000 000 $ (in the land of lire they seldom did it beneath a million), a fortune in these days, which is of course only escorted by a funnily small group of soldiers.
Watched this one this morning and enjoyed more than I expected. Unfortunately the copy I have does not benefit from the nice picture quality of the Italian DVD shown above. Mineās a VHS rip, in widescreen but with one of those āNot For Saleā messages embedded through the middle of it. Does have English audio though so maybe this would be a good job for our old friend Autephex if he is still around somewhere.
Bad picture quality didnāt put me off though. I guess Iāve seen enough similar to not be bothered by such things now. Ardisson fitted his part pretty well and there were enough twists in the story to keep it interesting. Not top drawer by any criteria and some of the bar room scenes tended to drag on too long but certainly worth viewing although something of an old fashioned throwback for a 1968 spaghetti.
Adequate SW: the pre-opening credits sequence is not at all bad, Ardisson gets into the part successfully, Lorenza Guerrieri (Muriel) is underutilized but adequately charming and the conclusion is surprisingly good, in some ways even remarkable!
On the other hand, the torture scene is definitely odd and I find Buseba/Paolo Carlini continually repeating the word āschifosiā (disgusting persons, bastards) a bit annoying.
[quote=āPhil H, post:10, topic:2087ā]Ardisson fitted his part pretty well and there were enough twists in the story to keep it interesting. (ā¦)
some of the bar room scenes tended to drag on too long[/quote]
Ha ha - I thought it somewhat preposterous, but not unexpected either - but it put a smile on my face when I saw that outfit 8) ā¦ But, yes - it was a suitable end for an enjoyable film.
No great shakes - some plotholes, some twistyness - and a good solid spag for visiting after the alehouse.
I enjoyed Ardissonās dry performance, and his odd wry grin - but the highlight performance for me was that of the muscle-goon Fred Coplan and his missing tooth.
(A better version was watched Phil - no words on the screen - a bit pixelately in the dark bits - but more than adequate when compensated for with a scoop of cider)
As regards the ending I enjoyed the combination, in my opinion particularly successful, of three ingredients: revelation + cruelty in abandoning a character dying in terrible pain to his fate (which is not very common in SWs, at this moment I can think of only Una pistola per cento croci/Gunman of One Hundred Crosses) + final joke.
Nah, the final revelation in this one is as so often one of those which can destroy a film. And of course I saw it coming, probably since Tamiroff first appeared. And, but I may remember this wrong, it didnāt make much sense.
About time I watch this movie (I usually like Ardisson, by the way, heās a nice, unlikely western hero, and because heās so unlikely, I like to see him as one)
And whilst weāre in spaghettiland - doesnāt Calisto Calisti get shot twice in this? Isnāt that him at the beginning when Amen is introduced - and later as henchman/deputy for the final house shootout?
Anyway I prefer A Man Called Amen (not to be confused with tāother oneā¦)
ā¦ But, yes - it was a suitable end for an enjoyable film.